Streets and highways of Chicago

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Night view of the tollbooths as you enter Chicago from the Chicago Skyway
Night view of the tollbooths as you enter Chicago from the Chicago Skyway

Contents

[edit] Street layout

Chicago's streets primarily follow the grid system established by the Chicago Board of Aldermen in 1908 and implemented on September 1, 1909. All addresses are numbered outward from baselines at State Street, which runs North and South, and Madison Street, which runs East and West. Street numbers begin at "1" at the base lines and ascend numberically to the city limits. Letters (N, S, E, or W) indicate directions.

The city of Chicago is divided into one-mile sections which nearly everywhere contain exactly 8 blocks to the mile. Every average block is assigned a new series of 100 numbers. Therefore, each 800 in numbers is one mile. (North-south blocks in and just south of downtown are an exception to the 800-to-a-mile rule: Madison (0 N/S) to Roosevelt (1200 S) is one mile, as are Roosevelt to Cermak (2200 S) and Cermak to 31st Street (3100 S). The normal 800 rule resumes south of 31st Street so that Pershing Road (3900 S) is one mile south of 31st.)

The blocks are normally counted out by "hundreds," so that Chicagoans routinely give directions by saying things like "about ten hundred north on Western" or "around twenty-four hundred west on Augusta" (which both describe locations near the intersection of Western Avenue (2400 W) and Augusta Blvd. (1000 N)).

South of Madison Street most of the east-west streets are simply numbered. The street numbering is aligned with the house numbering, so that 95th Street is exactly 9500 South. "Half-block" east-west thoroughfares in this area are numbered and called places; 95th Place would lie just south of and parallel to 95th Street, and just north of 96th Street.

Every four blocks (half-mile) is a major secondary street. For example, Division Street (1200 N) is less important than either Chicago Avenue (800 N) or North Avenue (1600 N), but is still a major thoroughfare. However, this is not always the case, especially on the city's Far North Side: Peterson Avenue (6000 N) is a more heavily trafficked street than Bryn Mawr Avenue (5600 N), which sits exactly at the 7-mile marker.

Even address numbers are found on the north and west sides of a street, and odd numbers are found on the south and east sides, irrespective of the streets' position relative to the corner of State and Madison. Diagonals, even if they were to run exactly 45 degrees off of the cardinal directions, are numbered as if they were north-south or east-west streets.

The northernmost street in Chicago is Juneway Terrace, just north of Howard Street. The southern boundary is 138th Street. The eastern boundary of Chicago is Avenue A, and the furthest west the city extends is in the portion of O'Hare Airport that lies in DuPage County, just east of Elmhurst/York Road.

[edit] Street names

While all north-south streets within city limits are named, rather than numbered, smaller streets in some areas are named in groups all starting with the same letter; thus, when traveling westward on a Chicago road, starting just past Pulaski Road (4000 W), one will encounter a mile-long block of cross-streets most of which have names starting with the letter K, giving rise to the expression "K-town." These streets are found approximately in the 11th mile west of the Indiana state line, and so begin with the 11th letter of the alphabet. A mile later, just past Cicero (4800 W), the starting letter changes to L, and mile by mile the letters progress up to P. The areas that might otherwise be the A through J groups are the older parts of the city where street names were already well established before this system was developed (although some small groups of streets seem to have been given names intended to conform to the system), and the Q group (8800 to 9600 W) would fall entirely outside the city (exclusive of the "airport extension", which is too small to contain any streets other than the Kennedy Expressway).

On the far southeast side of the city, Avenue A lies just west of the Illinois-Indiana state line. Lettered avenues mark each block through Avenue O, which is a main street through southeast side communities such as Hegewisch.

[edit] Suburbs

Some suburbs number their east-west streets in a continuation of the Chicago pattern, and even more number their houses according to the Chicago grid. A few suburbs also number their north-south avenues according to the Chicago grid, although such numbering vanished from Chicago itself long ago (the alphabetical naming scheme was devised to help eliminate it). For example, the 54/Cermak terminus of the Chicago 'L' rapid transit system is located near the intersection of 54th Avenue and Cermak Road (22nd Street) in Cicero. This is 54 blocks west of State Street in Chicago. A minor street 54½ blocks west of State Street would be called 54th Court.

This pattern continues west to Plainfield, which has a 252nd Avenue. Suburbs that follow the Chicago numbering system include Niles, Morton Grove, Skokie, Lincolnwood, Evergreen Park, Oak Lawn, Oak Forest, Matteson, parts of Des Plaines, and other parts of Cook County, Will, and DuPage Counties. Other suburbs, including Evanston, Park Ridge, Oak Park, and Glenview, use their own numbering systems.

Some Chicago suburbs in adjoining Northwest Indiana also use the Chicago numbering system. These include Whiting, Indiana and Hammond, Indiana while adjoining Munster, Indiana, Highland, Indiana, Griffith, Indiana are based on the Gary, Indiana numbering system beginning with 5th Avenue in Gary and slowly working south with streets named 15th Avenue and 45th Avenue and examples in far south Lake County, Indiana near Lowell and Cedar Lake include 109th Avenue, 117th Avenue and 203rd Avenue.

[edit] Grid

Major mile streets
East-West Streets North-South Streets
Mile Address number Street name Address number Street name Minor street letter
12 9600 N (Golf Rd.)
11 8800 N (Dempster St.) 8800 W East River Rd.
10 8000 N (Oakton St.) 8000 W Pacific Ave. P
9 7200 N Touhy Ave. 7200 W Harlem Ave. O
8 6400 N Devon Ave. 6400 W Narragansett Ave. N
7 5600 N Bryn Mawr Ave. 5600 W Central Ave. M
6 4800 N Lawrence Ave. 4800 W Cicero Ave L
5 4000 N Irving Park Rd. 4000 W Pulaski Rd. (Formerly: Crawford Ave.) K
4 3200 N Belmont Ave. 3200 W Kedzie Ave.
3 2400 N Fullerton Ave. 2400 W Western Ave.
2 1600 N North Ave. 1600 W Ashland Ave.
1 800 N Chicago Ave. 800 W Halsted Street
0 0 N/S Madison St. 0 E/W State Street
1 1200 S Roosevelt Rd. 800 E Cottage Grove Ave.
2 2200 S Cermak Rd. 1600 E Stony Island Ave.
3 3100 S 31st St. 2400 E Yates Ave.
4 3900 S Pershing Rd. 3200 E Brandon Ave.
5 4700 S 47th St. 4000 E Avenue C
6 5500 S 55th St.
7 6300 S 63rd St.
8 7100 S 71st St.
9 7900 S 79th St.
10 8700 S 87th St.
11 9500 S 95th St.
12 10300 S 103rd St.
13 11100 S 111th St.
14 11900 S 119th St.
15 12700 S 127th St.

Many streets in downtown Chicago are considered major streets:

DOWNTOWN

  • North/South:
    • Canal St. (500 W)
    • Wacker Drive (400 W)
    • Franklin St. (300 W)
    • Wells St. (200 W)
    • LaSalle Street (150 W)
    • Clark St. (100 W)
    • Dearborn St. (36 W)
    • State Street (1E/1W)
    • Wabash Ave. (44 E)
    • Michigan Avenue (100 E)
    • Columbus Dr. (300 E)
    • McClurg (400 E)
  • East/West:
    • Oak Street (1000 N)
    • Delaware (900 N)
    • Chicago (800 N)
    • Huron (700 N)
    • Ohio St. (600 N)
    • Illinois (500 N)
    • Kinzie (400 N)
    • Wacker Drive (300 N)
    • Lake St. (200 N)
    • Randolph Street (150 N)
    • Washington St. (100 N)
    • Madison (1N/1S)
    • Monroe St. (100 S)
    • Adams St. (200 S)
    • Jackson Blvd. (300 S)
    • VanBuren St. (400 S)
    • Congress Pkwy. (500 S): Thoroughfare to the Eisenhower Expressway
    • Harrison St. (600 S)
    • Balbo (700 S)
    • Polk St. (800 S)

SECONDARY STREETS

  • East/West:
    • 7600 N- Howard St.
    • 6800 N- Pratt Ave
    • 6000 N- Peterson Ave, part of U.S. Highway 14
    • 5200 N- Foster Ave
    • 4600 N- Wilson Ave (not a half-mile)
    • 4400 N- Montrose Ave
    • 3600 N- Addison St
    • 2800 N- Diversey Ave
    • 2000 N- Armitage Ave
    • 1200 N- Division St
    • 1400 S- 14th St. (not a half-mile)
    • 1800 S- 18th St. (not a half-mile)

The half-mile numbered streets on the South Side are all secondary streets: 35th, 43rd, 51st, ...

  • North/South:
    • 8400 W- Cumberland Ave.
    • 6800 W- Oak Park Ave
    • 6000 W- Austin Ave
    • 5200 W- Laramie Ave
    • 4400 W- Kostner Ave.
    • 3600 W- Central Park Ave.
    • 3400 W- Kimball Ave (not a half-mile)
    • 2800 W- California Ave
    • 2000 W- Damen Ave
    • 1200 W- Racine Ave
    • 400 E- Martin Luther King Jr Dr. (King Dr.)
    • 1200 E- Woodlawn Ave
    • 2000 E- Jeffery Blvd.
    • 2800 E- Torrence Ave
    • 3000 E- Commercial Ave (not a half-mile)
    • 3600 E- Ewing Ave

(No part of Golf Rd., Dempster St., or Oakton St. actually lies within the boundaries of Chicago. These streets are included for reference, since they are a continuation of the Chicago mile street pattern into the suburbs.)

The numbering system is also copied in Milwaukee

[edit] Highways

Interstates in Chicago
Interstates in Chicago

The city of Chicago proper has seven major interstate highways crossing through it. However, the various roadways are more typically known to Chicagoans not by their Interstate numbers but rather by various given names.

[edit] Expressways in Chicago

  • The Edens Expressway runs south from the Cook County line (Lake-Cook Road) near Northbrook to its interchange with the Kennedy Expressway near Montrose. The Edens Spur (formally a part of the Tri-State Tollway) splits off near the north end to interchange with the mainline Tri-state. All of the Edens except for the small portion north of where the Edens Spur splits off, and all of the Edens Spur, is signed as Interstate 94; the northernmost section is signed as U.S. Highway 41. North of the northern terminus U.S. 41 continues north into Lake County as Skokie Highway. U.S. 41 is overlaid on Interstate 94 from the junction with the Edens Spur to the Skokie Road exit in Skokie.
  • The Dan Ryan Expressway runs south from the Circle Interchange (where it interchanges with the Kennedy and Eisenhower Expressways and with Congress Parkway) near the Chicago Loop, through the Spaghetti Bowl where it interchanges with the Stevenson Expressway (Interstate 55), then past an interchange with the Chicago Skyway near 66th Street, to its southern terminus in south Chicago, where it interchanges with the Bishop Ford Freeway and continues southwest through south Chicago and the southern suburbs toward Champaign-Urbana. The Dan Ryan is signed as Interstate 94 until it interchanges with the Bishop Ford Freeway and Interstate 57; the portion between the Circle Interchange and the junction with the Chicago Skyway is overlaid with Interstate 90.
  • The Eisenhower Expressway (Interstate 290; formerly "Congress Expressway") runs from the Circle Interchange near the Loop almost due west to Chicago's western suburbs, interchanging with the Tri-State Tollway and the eastern terminus of the Ronald Reagan Memorial Tollway (Interstate 88) near Hillside, Illinois, after which it turns northwest (as the "Eisenhower extension") and eventually terminates at the Northwest Tollway near Schaumburg. The name "Congress Parkway" persists for the short section east of the Circle Interchange, which connects the three major expressways to Lake Shore Drive (U.S. 41).
  • The Bishop Ford Freeway starts at the southern terminus of the Dan Ryan Expressway and heads first southeast and then south through southern Chicago and into Chicago's southern suburbs, where it intersects with the western end of the Kingery Expressway and the eastern end of the Tri-State Tollway, then continues on further into the south suburbs before downgrading to a surface highway and eventually terminating into Dixie Highway (Illinois Route 1) south of Crete, Illinois. The portion of the Bishop Ford Freeway north of the interchange with the Kingery Expressway is signed as Interstate 94; south of that point it is signed as Illinois Route 394.
  • The Chicago Skyway angles off from the Dan Ryan Expressway near 66th Street and heads southeast toward Indiana. Whether or not the Skyway is part of Interstate 90 is a matter of some debate. The eastern end of the Skyway ends with toll bridge over the Little Calumet River and (incidentially) the Indiana state line; on the other side of the state line the Skyway ends at the western terminus of the Indiana Toll Road.
  • The Tri-State Tollway only enters Chicago at one point: its interchange with the Kennedy Expressway and North-West Tollway on the far northwest side. Otherwise, the Tri-State circumvents the city of Chicago entirely, running entirely through the suburbs from its northern terminus near the Wisconsin border to its southern terminus at the interchange with the Bishop Ford Freeway and the western end of the Kingery Expressway. North of the junction with the Edens Spur the Tri-State is signed as Interstate 94; south of this it is signed as Interstate 294, and the southern part of that is overlaid by Interstate 80 (which continues east past the eastern terminus of Interstate 294 as the Kingery Expressway and on into Indiana).
South Lake Shore Drive, looking north into the heart of the city
South Lake Shore Drive, looking north into the heart of the city
  • Lake Shore Drive is a major highway running along the Lake Michigan shoreline from Hayes Drive (63rd Street) in southern Chicago to the intersection of Hollywood Avenue and Sheridan Road in Chicago's Edgewater neighborhood. For most of its length, Lake Shore Drive is signed as U.S. Highway 41. Parts of Lake Shore Drive are constructed at or near expressway grade, but there are a number of at-grade intersections, especially near downtown. Nonetheless, "LSD" (as it is often referred to) is a major arterial with a great deal of cultural as well as transportation significance to Chicagoans.

[edit] U.S. highways

[edit] Driving distances

The driving distances listed below are approximate estimates; the actual distance may vary slightly based on the starting point, route taken or what is considered the "city center" from Chicago to another city. You can generally assume that each distance listed is the shortest distance from Chicago to another city.

City Miles Kilometers
Albuquerque, NM 1310 2113
Atlanta, GA 715 1145
Denver, CO 1085 1645
Houston, TX 805 1758
Kansas City, MO 526 871
New York, NY 787 1266
Los Angeles, CA 2077 3306
Magic Kingdom, Walt Disney World, FL 1199 1929
San Antonio, TX 1210 1951
San Diego, CA 2090 3371
San Francisco, CA 2170 3500
Seattle, WA 2050 3306
Washington, D.C. 710 1145
Wichita, KS 730 1177

[edit] Interesting facts

  • Chicago has very few streets named after US states or their capitals.
  • On the first day of implementing the modern street numbering system 75% of the mail was incorrectly addressed.
  • There were thirteen streets named Washington at the beginning of the 20th century.
  • Chicago's longest thoroughfare is Western Avenue at 23.5 miles.
  • Milwaukee and Elston Avenues (both northwest-southeast diagonals) intersect twice—at 800 north (at Fry Street, just north of Chicago Avenue) and again at 6200 north (at Melvina Street, just north of Peterson Avenue).
  • Only Wacker Drive has buildings addressed north, south, east and west. It is the only road in Chicago to exist on both sides of both Madison Street and State Street.

[edit] References

    [edit] See also


    [edit] External Resources

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